1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a method, system and program product for monitoring and communicating events at plural target applications of an application unit by using at least one resource such as a Dynamic Linked Library (DLL) for multiple data formats and multiple communication protocols. The DLL supports multiple data formats and multiple communication protocols to communicate the event data. The application unit specifies at least one communication protocol to be used to report the information in at least one data format from the application unit. Each of the at least one communication protocol and each of the at least one data format are defined through an interface function. The formatting of data representing the event information is handled in at least three levels of software classes, with two levels of abstract classes and one concrete software class. The formatting of information to be transmitted through the specified communication protocol is handled in at least three levels of software classes, with one abstract class and two levels of concrete classes. Additionally, the DLL sends a file which includes the information to be reported through a communication protocol as discussed above.
2. Discussion of the Background
With the rise of microprocessor-based appliances and devices, software development has clearly become a significant business. In evaluating and supporting appliances and devices, it may be beneficial to monitor exactly how events in an appliance and device occur and how the states are changing. An example of events is an action caused by user interaction with an appliance. It may be helpful for a software developer to know which commands a user uses most often and how long those commands take to execute. Such an analysis is often referred to as “profiling.” (Analogous analysis was performed, e.g., on instructions in instruction sets to develop reduced instruction set computing (RISC) instructions.)
Further, in designing appliances and devices with which a human interacts, it may be desirable to monitor how the user interacts with such appliances and devices. As an example, it may be desirable to monitor how a user utilizes a control panel of an image forming device such as a photocopier, facsimile machine, printer, scanner, or an appliance such as a microwave oven, VCR, digital camera, cellular phone, palm top computer, etc.
Further, it may be desirable to monitor the state of the appliances and devices to provide diagnostics, services and maintenance needs. Some events may be caused by internal changes within the appliances and devices. Some events may be caused by abnormal conditions such as a paper jam in a copier. Some error conditions and warning conditions may be caused by, e.g., errors in the software installed in target appliances and devices.
Further, users are increasingly utilizing the Internet. There is significant interest in how users use the Internet, particularly with respect to how users may use certain web pages. Therefore, monitoring a user's usage of the Internet or its successor may also become significant.
It may also be desirable to determine how a user is utilizing a certain application unit (e.g., a computer running a software application, a device with an interface to be operated by a user, or a web page). The user's usage of the application unit must then be monitored and effectively communicated to a remote party.